Build the ultimate sand castle with a Stone Spray Robot

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I’m always mightily impressed when I see the professional sand sculptures being created on a beach. But it’s unfortunate they are only temporary structures that will be reclaimed by the sea just a few hours after being finished.

A group working out of the Institute for Advanced Architecture of Catalonia has come up with a more permanent method of sand castle construction, though. It involves the use of a new 3D printer called the Stone Spray Robot.

What the Stone Spray does is combine soil/sand with a liquid to form a jet spray that can be used to 3D print structures. Once formed, they dry to a permanent sculpture. In the video above you see the robot using sand along with the liquid mix to create a structure on a beach, but the robot can be positioned anywhere and create your structure of choice on any surface.

The goal of developing this robot is to research new ways for on-site fabrication. So rather than mixing materials together and having a workforce use them for construction, we could use a robot instead coupled with a predefined model of what needs constructing.

The Stone Spray Robot may be a prototype unit and research experiment, but it clearly works. It’s also eco-friendly due to its low power use with the research team claiming it can be run purely off solar panels. All the materials used in the creation of the robot are LEED Certified, meaning they have been created with sustainability and energy efficiency in mind.

If it could be scaled up and the jet made more accurate, I’d like to see the Stone Spray having a go at 3D printing a full-size building.